Opportunities Abound for Customer Service in the Airline Industry
Recently I have been shaking my head in disbelief at some of the shocking customer service headlines that have been coming emerging from the airline industry.
From the incident where a customer was dragged out of an airplane to the brawl that happened at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, each story has been equally painful and saddening to see. These are the types of incidents that keep customer service executives awake at night.
What’s especially tough to process, though, is the fact that things had been going very well for the airline industry before the recent slew of incidents. In fact, according to a new J.D. Power survey, which was conducted before the above-mentioned incidents, airline approval ratings had actually been increasing year over year.
“Overall satisfaction with the airline industry in 2017 increases by a significant 30 points to 756 (on a 1,000-point scale), continuing a trend of steady performance increases that began in 2013,” the report reads. “Both traditional and low-cost carriers have shown improvement, with the traditional carriers continuing to close the satisfaction gap with low-cost carriers (740 vs. 784, respectively).”
It’s safe to assume that the next report will not be so positive.
It’s important, though, to focus on the present state of affairs. Right now, the airline industry is in a fragile state heading into the busy summer travel months when airports will be crowded with vacationers and tensions will be running high. All eyes will be on airline providers over the next several months to see how they handle customer issues.
While there is a tremendous amount of work to be done here in restoring consumer trust, it’s important to realize that this is also an amazing opportunity for companies in this space. Airlines that strive to be accommodating, patient and friendly with customers will have an easy time differentiating their brands and generating positive reviews. And this, of course, will lead to stronger profits.
One way that airlines can streamline customer service is to work with a small, dedicated contact center solutions provider like InfoCision.
Why work with InfoCision instead of a large contact center provider? It’s the difference between investing in large, assembly-line style customer support and one that takes a highly-focused, custom approach. InfoCision’s team of strategists and Communicators put a great deal of thought and care into the customer journey — and during this time of heightened consumer sensitivity, this cannot be underestimated.
What’s more, working with a small provider like InfoCision can greatly help when unplanned PR disasters arise. It’s much easier to contain messaging and incident response when working with a small group than it is with a large customer service team.
To learn more about InfoCision, click here.